The Chaos Theory
by thechilldude
Summary: In a world where the Ranma cast is at least somewhat normal, Ranma is still plagued by complete and utter insanity. With him being suspended along with Ryoga by his insane principal and the meeting of a crazy Chinese woman, what will happen to him next?
1. Chapter 1: A Not so Normal Life

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Ranma 1/2. All characters and rights are reserved. I do not plan to receive profits from this story or sell it. I use its characters in the story for the pure enjoyment of writing.

Pre-story Note: Enjoy the story!

* * *

"Big brother," a young boy said. He glanced towards the sky, mesmerized by its wonders. Clouds fluttered by without a care in the world.

"Yes, Ranma?"

"When you grow, what do you want to be?"

"Hmm...I never really thought of that." He ruffled his black hair in contemplation for the answer. "I guess when I grow up, I want to be an astronaut." He and his brother chuckled. "What about you, Ranma? What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Ranma giggled and hopped in the air, reaching for the sky with both his hands. "I want to a house wife!"

For a second Ranma's brother stared at him, but he chuckled lightly and replied, "What makes you say that, Ranma?"

"My friend says that house wives have it the best. They don't have to work jobs and the best of all you have a loved one that comes home to you and gives you attention. What could be better than that?"

"Oh?" Ranma's brother asked. "Ranma... I don't think you..." He wanted to go on to say that it wasn't possible for Ranma to do this, but it was hard to take away that beaming smile from Ranma's face. "I mean to say, that is...You'll definitely someone who loves you when you grow up." He patted Ranma on the head, and the young boy giggled and excitement and glomped his big brother.

* * *

Ranma leaned back in a desk and propped his feet up onto the old flimsy wood. It had been ten years since his conversation about growing up with his big brother Konryu. At the time, his naivety prevented him from seeing the error in his logic, but that childhood desire had long since passed.

"Ranma you should listen to the teacher more often! If you won't then prepare to die!"

As Ranma turned his attention to the source of the voice, he jumped backwards, and he and the chair collapsed onto the ground. He darted up and shouted, "What the hell, Ryoga. What's the meaning of standing on my desk?"

"I don't see any problem with that seeing as how you prop your feet up here every day." the teenager in front of Ranma said. This man was Ryoga, Ranma's ultimate nemesis. The two brawled practically every day after school. Usually the reasoning behind Ryoga's hatred towards Ranma was somewhere along the lines of ruining Ryoga's life, but for some reason that Ranma couldn't possibly fathom, he couldn't remember what it was that actually made Ryoga so depressed.

Perhaps it was the teasing Ranma had forced Ryoga to suffer through, or it could be all those times he nuked his locker with, well...pretty much everything the human mind could ponder: garbage, rolls of toilet paper, week-old carcasses of bugs, and the list goes on.

It's not as if Ranma hated Ryoga or anything. In fact, Ryoga was a pretty nice kid. At least, that was Ranma's opinion. However, it all boils down to how much Ranma can control himself before doing it again. It was so impossible seeing that face of his, all angry over the latest prank.

"Quiet down back there, before I suspend you both from class. I don't need this kind of crap from either of you." The teacher hissed.

"tch...I don't need to listen to you. Ano baka (*hole)!" Ranma retorted.

The teacher frowned at Ranma's choice of words. Cicadas could be heard chirping outside at the front of the school. A vein snapped on Ranma's head; he growled as he stomped over to the window and ripped it open. He yelled, "Shut up you stupid bugs!"

The teacher quietly trudged over to Ranma and wailed on him with a giant ruler. She seemed to be able to fabricate that whenever Ranma was out of line. A big lump formed at the crown of his head. "Ouch! What did you do that for?"

Before the teacher could answer that with an answer Ranma already presumed would be about school policies and how they should be uphold and thus prompted to tune her out, Ranma could hear the feint cry of someone he knew very well.

He glanced out the window and shrieked in fright. This person was probably the scariest person in the world. He cowered away and even thrust desks, not all of them empty, which did some folks to scream themselves, but it was for a good cause, Ranma would assure them later. However, that seemed to matter little, as the person in question shot through the building, tearing up the section of wall.

"Ranma! Ranma! Shampoo so happy see Shampoo airen." This is Shampoo. Ranma didn't know her very well. He'd met her during one of her quests that had been given to her by her cult of Chinese warriors. One day he had been walking home from school when he'd found her beat up in an alleyway. He took her home and nursed her back to health. It hadn't been a problem, except that ever since then she had taken it upon herself to jump Ranma at the most random times and glomp him.

Similar to the past occurrences, Shampoo squeezed tightly down on him, squeezing the life out of him. There was a sound of dissatisfaction coming out of one of the students' mouths at this development. Ranma struggled to peer over his shoulder and find the source of the sound. It had come from Akane Tendo.

Akane was another one of those people Ranma didn't really know a whole lot about. He knew that she was a student of his class and that she lived on the same street as him, but beyond that he knew nothing about her.

Her reactions to Shampoo's presence was very strange. Every time Shampoo made contact with Ranma, she'd have the same negative reaction as last time. If Ranma didn't know any better, he'd say that Akane had a crush on him.

Before Ranma could ponder that further, however, the teacher yelled, causing Ranma to turn his attention towards her. "That's it! All of you out now! That goes for you too Ryoga."

Ryoga, who'd been laughing at how unfortunate Ranma had been all morning, gawked at the teacher. "What did I do?" Ryoga asked with vibrant motions of his arms.

"Just...do it!" the teacher seemed to roar like a bear as she yelled, which caused Ryoga to withdraw and cower.

* * *

It was the late afternoon. Ryoga was carrying one full bucket of water in each of his hands. Next to him, Ranma was doing the same with an ecstatic Shampoo running in circles around him. Ranma shook violently until he cried out, "Would you quit running around me in circles, you're giving me a headache!"

As if to emphasize his frustration, he threw his arms into the air and flung them around; he gave Shampoo a nasty glare as well. Shampoo recoiled and began tearing up. "Ranma no love Shampoo no more!" She brought her hands up to her face to cover it and cry in her hands.

"No...that's no true. I mean, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Ah!" Ranma cried out in frustration. He pulled at his hair. Shampoo took Ranma's apologize as a love confessions and suddenly became elated. She beamed up at him, which made Ranma feel very uncomfortable.

From the sidelines, Ryoga pointed and laughed. "What are you laughing about Ryoga? You want to fight about it? I'll fight you!" Ranma said, "Unless you're too scared I'll win, P-chan."

P-chan was a term Ranma had given Ryoga a while ago, when Ranma had caught him pigging out in an old friend's kitchen. Ranma meant to call him that only once, but others began calling him P-chan as well, and that form of endearment stuck.

Ryoga glared at Ranma and shouted, "Prepare to die!" He attempted to strike Ranma on top of the head with his fist, but Ranma promptly dodged the attack, side stepping around him. Ranma spun and kicked him in the back.

"I'd give up if I were you. I know martial arts!"Ranma gloated. He felt proud of his accomplishment of successfully knocking Ryoga to the ground. In truth, he hadn't really been trained in the way of the martial arts. He simply got lucky with his counter-attack.

Ryoga spat on the ground and glared up at him. "Screw you." He pulled himself off the ground.

Their teacher from earlier that day came walking around the corner; she had seen them fighting, an act that made her very angry. "Quit fighting right now you two, or I'll have you both expelled from this school!" She stomped up to them and said, "Now come with me. The principal needs to see you two."

As they headed to the office, Shampoo followed them as well. The teacher, noticing the girl following them, yelled, "you can't come!"

Shampoo, angry for the teacher's refusal to permit her to join them in their travels, locked her arms around Ranma's and cried, "Teacher no stop Shampoo from seeing Shampoo airen!"

Coming from nowhere was Akane, dashing towards the group. With her arm, she wrung Shampoo by her neck and ran in the other direction. "See you later, Ranma!" she cried over her shoulder.

"...What was that all about?" Ranma asked. Cicadas chirped in the background as everyone was silently watching where Akane had gone off to with Shampoo flailing behind her, desperately trying to get back to her Ranma.

As no one had an answer to that question, Ranma and Ryoga were forced to continue their journey to hell, err... the principal's office. When they arrived there, they were asked to be seated by a secretary. In a short few moments, they were called back to the office.

"Welcome Ranma and Ryoga. I heard you have caused trouble for your teacher again this morning." the principal began, diving straight into the ordeal. "Do you have anything to say for yourselves."

Ranma shook his head, for he didn't care, but Ryoga proclaimed, "None of it's my fault. It's all Ranma's fault! He's always cutting up in class."

"Hey! What are you doing pitting all the blame on me? You're the one that goes standing on other people's desks. I think you deserve the blame."

"Enough, the both of you." the principal said, "Or I'll make you shave your heads and wear coconuts on top of your heads for a whole week. This is the seventh time you two have made a scene in the classroom. As you both know, I'm not one to punish my students."

'_More like giving reasonable punishments to your students_,' Ranma thought, '_I doubt making students shave their heads and wearing coconuts on them is a reasonable punishment._' the principal continued, "But in light of this, you two continue to cause disruptions in class. As such, I find that there can only be one solution."

'_Please tell me that you will send Ryoga and I to different class rooms_.' Ranma pleaded inside his mind. He awaited the punishment, but the principal continued to prolong the execution of said punishment by needlessly picking up a stack of papers and rapping the edges against the desk, neatly placing them in a stack.

When the principal neglected to continue his thoughts, Ranma became suspicious. "Hey, old man! You in there?" Ranma snapped his fingers. A snoring sound could be heard emitting from the principal's mouth.

"What the hell?" Ranma screamed. "Wake up, ya old fart!"

The principal snapped awake in an instant and cried, "Is that any way to talk to your elders? I should beat you on the side of your head for being so rude." He slammed his fist in the desk and sweat-dropped when the sound of the desk cracking could be heard.

"Ahem...where was I?" the principal asked stupidly. He shifted his dress shirt around nervously as he tried remembering what he was about to say.

"You were about to tell us our punishment when ya dozed off. Geez...keep yur head in the game will ya?" Ranma glared.

"Oh yes, of course..."

A few seconds later the sounds of him snoring could be heard again. Ranma jumped out of his chair, causing the chair to fall on its back. Ranma yelled, "Would ya quit snoozing on the job, ya old man?"

The principal was once again startled awake. "Yes, of course. For the next two weeks, you two are suspended. I realize that this is not enough to put an end to your fighting. So, in addition to the two week suspension, you both must work together as a team and complete a project within those two weeks that will prove to us that the two of you have come to terms with your differences and therefore can conduct yourselves accordingly in the class."

"Are you kidding me, I have to work with him?" Ryoga objected, but his protests went unheard.

The principal continued, "If you two cannot complete this project and receive an A upon examination I will personally expel the two of you and bar you from coming to this school ever again. And don't get any funny ideas, we will know if one of the two of you isn't working or you are cheating."

He dug into his sack, which he pulled out during his explanation, and retrieved two papers; he handed one to each of the two students and said, "Here are your projects. I expect them on my desk the following Monday the two week suspension period is up."

Ranma and Ryoga both groaned and left his office. Half an hour later they were heading towards their homes, which were coincidentally in the same direction.

Ryoga was busying himself with reading off the requirements of the project, which was slightly annoying Ranma because the more requirements there were, the more time that he would have to allocate into his daily schedule to spend with Ryoga and work on the project.

"You must pick three instances in history where misunderstanding led to war or oppression. Each subtopic must be at least three paragraphs long and tie in to your overall theme. Your paper must be at least ten pages long, size twelves font, typed and double spaced with one inch margins. It must have annotated bibliography as well as in-text citations. Good luck!"

"Please..." Ranma begged, "I don't want to hear anymore..." He crawled up to Ryoga on his knees and shook his conjoined hands . "I don't want to think about it right now..."

"Fine..." Ryoga replied, "I don't really want to right now either. I have to go. I'll see you later Ranma." Ryoga separated from Ranma, running down the road and making a turn. He headed to wherever his home was located.

Ranma, not really paying attention, just replied, "Yeah, see ya later, P-chan." He closed his eyes and yawned. He recounted everything that had occurred throughout the day. Things seemed a lot more peaceful than usual.

Shampoo. When he'd first met her, it seemed like the whole world had turned upside down and chaos followed Ranma wherever he went. To the school, the mall, or even his own home. It didn't matter. He thought back to those good old days when he was never bored.

Apparently along with the Shampoo on her journey were her friend Mousse, whom followed her because of his undying love for her, and her great-grandmother Cologne, who proclaimed herself to be over five hundred years old.

As odd as the group was, the people whom they constantly fought were stranger yet. Ranma was always getting caught in the crossfire for some quest the Chinese group was constantly on.

Thankfully, though, about three months ago the Chinese group finished their quest and they supposedly went home, although today Shampoo's presence signaled to Ranma that he had not seen the last of them. Ranma idly wondered what was in store for him over the course of the next few weeks, whether he would be drawn in to some bizarre quest again or be subjected to some out-of-world experience. With those Chinese people around, Ranma could never tell.

As he stared off to the sky, his train of thought was abruptly interrupted by the sound of something crashing down to the ground. It bounced, and each time it landed on the ground, it echoed down the street.

Ranma turned his attention to the object in question. It appeared to be a small, glowing orb. Intrigued by the object, he walked up to it. It bounced into an alleyway; he followed in after it. As it halted, it came into contact with water.

Ranma picked it up and studied it. Inside the orb were small, blue swirls circling the inside of the ball. He was fascinated with it as it changed colors, going from a blue hue to a deep crimson.

However, as it began to vibrate and change colors rapidly, Ranma dropped it. As it landed in the puddle of water, it cracked and exploded. An extremely bright white light blinded Ranma. He went to cover his eyes as he squeezed them shut, but soon after the light came a loud screeching noise that Ranma found quite harmful.

He now had his eye clenched shut and his ears covered up by the palms of his hands, but neither action totally removed the sensory details of the present event. As they continued, Ranma experienced strange sensations in his body that caused him to sway back and forth. Ranma grew dizzy and nauseous, and he had a splitting headache.

Ranma wasn't sure what happened in the next few moments, but he was sure of one thing, and that was he had collapsed onto the ground before every sensation Ranma had been experiencing up to that moment ended.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I've been busy for a while writing some serious stories up on my laptop and my computer. Some of you may know to what I'm referring to, but others may not. I'm already well into creating the Legendary Heroes novel series, but I haven't decided when I should publish it. I'm still partly into the editing process of the first book, The Truth of the Heroes. I guess I shouldn't have started writing Lies of the Villains yet, the second book of the series, but that's said and done. I'm also currently writing either a novel or a novella, I haven't decided which yet, called The Broken Colony, which is about a boy growing up in a sinful world. Regardless, I decided I should take a break from the serious stories and work on a comedy fanfic.

It's quite obvious that this is an Alternate Universe, starting from the point where we discover Ranma has a brother. However some of the small changes that I _can_ hint on, but not flat out say in the story, I should say here, such as Ranma not being the amazing martial artist we all know him to be in the series, him not having any fiancees, and certainly him not falling into one of the springs at Jusenkyou (and subsequently turning into a girl with the contact of lukewarm or cold water). Despite all the normalities, it's still evident in some parts, and will be evident in later chapters, that Ranma's life is far from normal. He still has a whacko for a principal, and I have given one of his teachers a not so teacherish personality.

I hope you enjoy this chapter, I'll be tuning in every now and then and updating.


	2. Chapter 2: The Mysterious Magical Orb

Prestory note: Whelp, I've done my editing process. I'm still not entirely satisfied with it, but it'll have to do. I haven't edited Mousse's scene at all, but so as to not ruin the story for newcomers, I left an explanation at the end of the chapter. Also, I didn't really add a whole lot of sensory detail, but that was never my forte in the first place, and often times I can ruin the movement of the story by adding it. Some people like a lot of details, but others not so much, as the story never seems to kick off until around 50k words, which is quite a read. :P So therefore, I'm going to leave it be, as far as that tadbit editing goes.

I guess you can really say the story plot picks up here, or at the end of this chapter to be more specific. Last chapter was just a bunch of entrances, a funny situation and what not. I tried to make this chapter at least somewhat funny, but this is a mostly explaining chapter. Next chapter I promise will be funny, hehe. ^.^

Well without further adue.

* * *

"...The Chaos Theory...It is said that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. If there is some possibility for chaos, however minute it is, then chaos will come..."

* * *

At first, Ranma felt drowsy. He felt someone touching his arm and his abdomen, but the touch was so fleeting that he labeled it as nothing. The touching returned, more violent than before. He craned his neck to the source of the sensations as his eyes fluttered open.

"Ranma airen!" Shampoo cried, "Ranma well now?"

Ranma was still groggy from his slumber when he heard Shampoo's statement. "Shampoo what are you doing here? And...what do you mean by 'are you well now'?"

Shampoo wept into Ranma's stomach area as she said, "Ranma not man. Ranma woman. Shampoo thought Ranma gone forever!"

Ranma stared pointedly at Shampoo. '_Has she completely lost it? What does she mean I'm a woman? I'm a man_!' "What the hell do ya mean? How can I be a woman? Are ya really that dense?"

Instead of replying with words Shampoo groped Ranma's breasts. Ranma could immediately sense that something wasn't right. His breasts normally were not that sensitive to a touch. He glanced down at his own chest and promptly screamed.

"What...what happened?" Ranma cried, "Why'd ya do this?" Ranma choked Shampoo and began to pull her to and fro. "Undo this. Turn me back. Turn me back right now!"

"...But Shampoo innocent. Shampoo not know how turn Ranma into man." She was terrified at the new Ranma and put her hands in front of her, as if to protect her from Ranma's dauntless wrath.

Something popped into Ranma's mind that second. If he was a girl now, then how did Shampoo even recognize him. "Wait. Shampoo, how did you know this was me and not some random girl passed out on the street?"

"Shampoo saw Ranma transform. Ranma man. Bright light come. Ranma no longer man. Shampoo think light is magic. Great-grand mother Cologne know more." Shampoo explained with the limited Japanese that she understood.

Ranma picked himself, or rather, herself up and dusted herself off. Shampoo was right behind her in this act. "Well then, we should go see Cologne right now. Like hell I want Ryoga ta see me like this."

* * *

The distance in which Ranma and Shampoo both had to travel was a bit lengthy; with the sun already waning, Ranma could tell it would be late by the time she got back home. Her parents might not like that idea.

Her parents...What if she had to come home to them in this state. Would they recognize her? Shampoo was only able to recognize her because of what she'd seen happen, but no one else may be able to recognize her as Ranma, which would make everything more difficult.

What would she say? "Hello mom, dad. I know you may not believe me, but I am Ranma Saotome, your son, who's become a girl." Nah, that wouldn't work. No, she had to find a cure for this affliction before she had to confront any situations akin to that.

"Shampoo. I think it might be better if we take the subway there. Didn't ya say we had ta go to Koto? That's over forty miles from here." Ranma said as they walked by a sign that directed them to a subway nearby.

They were walking by passersby. Everything was crowded, and there were many cars traveling down the streets.

"Shampoo think that good idea." The two walked down a flight of steps to the underground subway and promptly departed from the station.

There wasn't much to say about the subway. It was dirty and poorly managed. Not to mention there were so many people crowding together in such a small space. It was one of the less finer things in Tokyo life that Ranma has come to know since she's moved here. Luckily she didn't have to use the subways very often, but she hated it when she had to.

She moved to Nerima in Tokyo when she was eight years old. She didn't know why, but her mother said the reason was for her safety. Since the day she moved here, she hadn't seen her brother, Konryu. As odd as that was, she thought nothing of it.

The subway was now fifteen minutes into its journey. Shampoo absentmindedly lain her head on Ranma's shoulder in her sleep. Ranma turned and looked at her sleeping; it had been three years after her move that she'd met Shampoo.

The next three and a half years were interesting, as Ranma's daily life was full of school and quests with Shampoo. She always seemed to be pulled into these quests; Having to go into a cave and fight a nasty daemon, running from rooftop to rooftop in search of a talisman with buffed ninjas in hot pursuit, and the list goes on.

Their final chapter in the quest was probably the most interesting one of them all.

* * *

_There came a loud crashing noise that resounded in Ranma's ears as he crawled behind a fence. A shed had exploded into a fiery rubble by some distant attack._

_"Curse not knowing how to fight!" Ranma cried as he leaped forward into a roll, narrowly dodging another explosion. He looked to Shampoo helplessly lying on the ground in front of the opponent, unconscious. "I might have been able to help her."_

_One explosion landed on Ranma. He was sent sprawling across the ground. His body skidded to a halt not long after, friction acting against his body. 'If only I hadn't met Shampoo, none of this would happen. I wouldn't be running for my life to avoid some madman. What was the term they used? Curiosity killed the cat? Better safe than sorry? Why do I always let Shampoo drag me into all these situations?'_

_'Oh yeah..that's right. A guy can't really turn down a cute girl's face. How pathetic...' Ranma then went limp. _

_The remaining portion of the battle Ranma doesn't remember, as he'd been knocked out by the impact of the explosion. When he came to, the first thing he noticed, when his drowsiness cleared, was that he was still alive. "Where am I?"_

_Shampoo was crowding over him. "Ranma airen!" Now this was a development. Ranma couldn't remember a time when Shampoo had called him airen. What did that mean, exactly? Oh yeah. Gulp. Fiance. "Shampoo thought Ranma dead. Killed by evil men. Shampoo so scared." _

_Ranma could only guess that this subtle change in Shampoo's attitude towards Ranma was from the development of the battle they'd fought. Well, it was more like a chase for Ranma, but that was besides the point. It wasn't as if Shampoo had not been kind to Ranma before this, but her new found discovery made her even more affectionate than before!_

"_What the hell are you doing...calling me by such an affectionate name?" Ranma asked._

"_Ranma brave. Ranma no have magic; Ranma stand up to evil man. Shampoo love Ranma!" She cried into his chest. The pigtailed boy didn't know how to respond to her actions right then and there. It was as if he was paralyzed from the neck down as he saw her bury her face into his chest and cry._

_Ranma bit his lip. While he didn't particularly like Shampoo, it didn't feel at all wrong to have her up next to him like this. Her hand cautiously draped itself over his chest and rested and the nape of his neck. She fiddled with the seam of his shirt, as if to pull it off him. _

_Something drew him towards her, and at the same time pushed him away at the same time. Something inside made his stomach reel on its side, not generating what one would term 'stomach butterflies', but a 'wrong' feeling. It was akin to instinct, like if one sensed danger, then their 'fight or flight' system would kick in. The feeling was telling him not to allow himself to be drawn to her. _

_And then Ranma had complete control of himself. His previous desires to pull himself nearer to Shampoo were completely eradicated, and in its place was serenity and acknowledgment. "And what of your quest? How did that go? Did you get the magic gem you'd been looking for?" _

_At that point in time, Cologne had come floating into the room like a genie. Overhearing Ranma's question, she responded in like, "No, although, as I'd clearly stated before when we'd first come here to Tokyo, our objective wasn't to obtain the gem. It was merely to prevent it from falling into other individual's hands. As we have defeated the only other individual to know its whereabouts in Tokyo, our mission has been completed."_

"_Shampoo no want to go. Shampoo like it here, with Ranma!" Shampoo cried._

"_I apologize for not telling you in advance, Shampoo, but we really mustn't overextend our stay here in Tokyo. There are other matters we must attend to. I promise we will return one day, soon." Cologne replied. "I apologize for the three of us for any inconveniences that we've given you Ranma. I hope that we will meet again, next time in better circumstances."_

_Ranma nodded, but he was unable to say anything as Cologne and Shampoo left his life. And although he didn't know Mousse that well, so had he. _

* * *

Ranma was suddenly pulled out of here daydream by a push. Shampoo and she both fell onto the walkway in the sub. When Ranma glanced upward, he'd noticed that it was now much emptier than before and there was a group of young men in front of her and Shampoo. Shampoo was also jolted awake by their ungraceful fall onto the walkway.

"That got 'em awake Keitaro." one of the men said. "Oh yeah..." One of the men fondled Ranma's breast; she received goosebumps and turned away in disgust. What was wrong with these men? Didn't they know she was a...'_oh yeah. I'm not longer a guy. Dammit._'

She screamed as one of the guys jumped on her. Shampoo came to the rescue and plowed into him, sending the two reeling into a bench across the room.

Shampoo was biting onto the guy's shoulder like a cat! Ranma couldn't help but guffaw at the scene.

Another guy glared at Ranma, thinking that she was making fun of them, and grabbed a hold of her. Instinctively Ranma kneed the guy, who fell back and hit the side of the subway room. A pile of boxes plunged down on top of him. As the were nearing him, the guy squeaked, "Mommy!"

The man beside Keitaro, upon seeing his friend knocked out cold by a few boxes, assumed the fetal position and sucked on his thumb as he rocked himself back and forth.

"Get a hold of yourselves, men. These are two girls, why are you getting yourselves all worked up over nothing?" Keitaro said. He jumped Ranma and held her down, preventing her from moving from her bind. He began to grope he breasts and rub himself against her. This final act elicited a scream from Ranma.

Shampoo flung herself at Keitaro, who suddenly found himself lodged in the side of the subway. "Uhh..." Keitaro said. "Can someone help me out of here? Guys?"

The remaining three men stared at Shampoo with widened eyes. Shampoo glanced back at them, a wild flare in her eyes that would send any man packing. And that's exactly what these men did as soon as they saw her glare. They flung themselves out the window and the subway.

"What the hell, guys?" Keitaro said. "I would have gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for you pesky girls, and that crazy Chinese bitch especially." These earned him an extra glare from Shampoo, who kicked him in the gut and promptly knocked him out.

* * *

The dying sun cast long shadows over the district of Koto. Ranma, having been subjected to such heinous acts in the subway, was now aware of the dangers of being a girl, especially when alone. Every time the shadows shifted nearby, Ranma jumped, thinking there to be some predator behind every corner.

Going by the rumors in Koto, this place was especially dangerous, having garnered Yakuza-spawned gangs. However, despite that, its alleyways seemed to be void of violence, and what few people who'd been still out at this time seemed fairly nice.

As the sun gave off its final red orange goodbye and set beyond the horizon, Ranma noted that the Koto region was eerily similar to Nerima. Had she not been paying attention, she would have remarked that they were going in circles, for the ended up right back where they started.

Shampoo led Ranma down an alleyway not at all different from the one she'd found the magical orb. "So...why are you and your great-grandmother staying here in Koto?" Ranma asked, glancing to her breasts every few seconds. Curse her for not noticing these changes in her when she first woke up. Who could miss the large breasts and the cutesy high-pitched voice she had? She tried lowering her octave, as if to undo some damage that the mysterious orb caused her. "then again, I suppose it is safe enough."

"Great-grand mother look for tall hat man. Man has gem grand-mama Cologne looking for. Said to undo curses." Shampoo said as she halted in front of a door. "Wait. Shampoo tell grandmother Cologne Ranma here."

Once Shampoo had receded into the darkness that was her abode, it didn't take long for her to return with her family member. The old, but wise woman entreated Ranma to a comfortable couch and a cup of warm tea at once.

"I hear some magic has been placed on you, Ranma." Cologne said before taking a sip of her green herbal tea. "Shampoo has just told me some about the...after effects, but I will need you to fill in the gaps to get a better sense of what has been done onto you."

Ranma nodded and described the event with the greatest detail she could possibly give her. All throughout the explanation, she moved her hands around vivaciously, as if to boost her along in her speech. At one point she jumped up from her seat and reached out for the skies. "..And then there was a bright light!"

Her excitement caused her to knock a lamp post over. At first, Ranma wasn't to worried about it. She'd just repay Cologne back for the damages later. However when the broken lamp caught on fire, subsequently passing the fire off onto the carpet under their feet, her eyes twitched.

The trio spurned to life, darting up and down the apartment complex to retrieve a fire extinguisher. In the end, they somehow were able to obtain a fire extinguisher and put out the fire without much damage done to anybody's stuff...And that was when the fire alarm alerted the entire household of the danger its occupants were in.

The fire fighters were there in almost an instant. Initially they were angry, but that anger quickly subsided, and by the of the next hour or so, they were laughing lightheartedly over the event. The fire fighters packed up their things and left, but not without complimenting the apartment's occupants of their room...as well as their quick response to the ordeal.

"...I'm glad that is over with." Ranma said with a sigh. She leaned her upper body over the kitchen counter-top lazily. Right at the moment, the family room didn't exactly smell like the best place in the world to be.

"Not to be mean or anything, but you were a little stupid allowing that to happen." Cologne said.

Ranma looked pointedly back at her for a moment before chuckling halfheartedly at her and saying, "I'm sure you don't really mean that do you, ya old hag?" At that, Cologne rubbed her temples in frustration, but she didn't comment on Ranma's rude behavior.

Ranma sweat-dropped. She was suddenly nervous being here after causing such a commotion. That kind of stuff was normal to Ranma, so she'd never, ever felt bad for an accident that she'd done. Perhaps it was a side affect from being in a girl's body to long.

Speaking of which, that was the reason she came here in the first place, to get out of this girl body and back in to her own. "Oh yeah, almost forgot why I came here in the first place, what with that whole incident...sorry, by the way. What does the whole body-changeroo sound like?"

Cologne was a bit surprised at the apology she received, as it was uncommon for Ranma to apologize at all, but she said none-the-less, "The orb might have been used for occult magic in the western tribes of Malaysia in the sixth century, though the magic they partook in was barred so quickly after it took off. The orb in which you spoke of is certainly one of their more notable tools."

"And? How do I undo this?"

"Well the thing is..." Cologne paused, building up suspense. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? I've been changed into a girl there must be a way to change me back!"

Cologne nodded in agreement. "There normally is a way to undo magic like this, and most magic today with these kind of affects would only be temporary, but..."

"Oh no, not the but..." Ranma whined. "Anything but the but!"

"The magic that was used on you was unstable. As a matter of fact, if you had not dropped the mystic object, your life could have very well been taken from you. The fact that the orb smashing onto the ground must have severed the connection you had with the magic." Cologne explained.

"Shouldn't I be, oh...I dunno, normal then?" Ranma complained. She balled her hand and held it firmly at her side. "Being in this body sucks. I've been touched in bad places, and I've already had to go to the bathroom. Twice. I couldn't even aim!" Tears formed in her eyes over her lost ability.

"Nonsense, girls can aim...just not as easily." Cologne replied, "But that's besides the point. And that is another difference in the time's magic. Today's magic has a focal point as well charge limit for most spells or incantations. Like mixtures, for example, can be diluted and made less powerful. That magic, however, builds up and builds up until no more magic can be contained, and then it disperses. That light you and Shampoo saw was the result of that process.

"Usually without a sever point as well, the magic, having filled its victim to the brim with the magic, would normally result in the victims' death. You, Ranma, had unwittingly severed the connection yourself. To sum things up a bit, you went through the magic's affects without that negative side affect. However, that is not to say that you weren't lucky in surviving that unstable magic in the first place."

"So I should be able to go back now right?" Ranma asked stupidly.

"Again, I'm not sure." Cologne said, "Come with me." They entered a dark room; Shampoo flipped a switch. "This storage of grandmother's magic."

There were a few tables secured at the center of the room, and pressed up against all four walls were shelves of books. The room encompassed thousands of them.

Cologne picked out a book and set it down at one of the tables. Opening it up and turning a few pages here and there, she pointed to an important paragraph of the page. "Aha. Here it is."

"What does it say?" Ranma asked curiously as she and Shampoo approached Cologne.

"The specifics of the effects of the spell are not gender-changing or gender oriented, but it does have a wide range of uses, or so it was meant for a lot of uses. It can grant users their desires and wishes."

"Like hell I desired to be in this body." Ranma clicked her tongue.

"I'm not so certain it was your desire that was fulfilled." Cologne murmured. "Mousse! Come here!"

A tall man with spectacles hanging over the bridge of his nose appeared in the doorway behind them. "Yes, mistress?"

"Do you know anything a magical orb that was recently used?" Cologne asked, "Don't lie if you do. Any knowledge pertinent to Ranma's predicament could help him get him back to his original self."

Mousse grumbled and glanced away...he mumbled, "If you're talking about what I did to Ranma today, then I have...Though I did what I had to."

"Please explain yourself."

Ranma gawked at this person. This was a person whom she'd never seen before. Why had he done that to her? Life suddenly seemed so cruel. One man is deprived of his manhood by another person whom he'd never met before. Ranma thought she'd hit rock bottom before, but seriously, this has got to take the cake of the worst, and possibly the most random, occurrence that has ever happened to her.

"I...Shampoo never ceased talking about Ranma, about how much she loved him and their future together. I..I didn't know what to do or what to say... I- I just did it to protect my love for Shampoo!" He had used the magic to remove Ranma as a threat to Shampoo and Mousse's nonexistent relationship.

Ranma stared at Mousse with widened eyes. She felt her eyes sting. '_No, this can't be happening...I can't cry. Not for such a stupid reason like this._' Her fists shook, in frustration at how Mousse dealt with the situation and at herself. She was nearly entirely incapable of hiding her emotions now.

"You think...you think what you did was going to change Shampoo's mind about you?" Ranma yelled, tinged with pain. "All you've done was possibly ruin my life. Love can't be demanded; if Shampoo was meant to love you...then she would have eventually stopped pining over me and come runnin' ta you."

Everyone looked to Ranma. Cologne and Mousse understood Ranma perfectly, though there was room for...misunderstanding. Shampoo suddenly shouted with glee and said, "That why Ranma Shampoo airen and no Mousse airen. Mousse no understand Shampoo!" She then promptly glomped Ranma in the side.

Ranma sweat dropped. '_Oops, I don't think I said that last sentence right. Geez, Shampoo's actin' like I'm professin' my love to her or somethin'._' "Uhh...that's enough Shampoo' you're not helping matters any."

"Well..." Cologne said as she walked up to a hidden cabinet in the far back of the storage room. "With what Mousse has just said, there may be a way to temporarily restore your old form." She picked out a glass vial filled with a neon-green liquid.

She returned to the group at the table. "I can't guarantee that you'll stay in your old form though. This magic is meant to negate a changed-state magic, but it's not nearly as strong as the magic that changed you into a woman. You might experience random gender changes, and since the magic Mousse used on you is long lasting, you only have so long before it wears off.

"In the mean time, I will look for some remedies that will effectively defuse the magic placed on you." Cologne finished her explanation. She handed Ranma the vial.

"Thank you." Ranma said as she drank the vial. The gender change was slow, but Ranma was at least thankful that he had his old body back, if only temporary. "Hopefully this will get me through two weeks."

After thanking the odd family one last time, and exchanging good-byes, Ranma departed into the starry night. He had a long walk back to Nerima, but at the very least he was in his body. He never knew how good it could be to be a guy. Still, the fun that was Ranma's life wasn't over yet. No, he had a feeling it had just begun.

* * *

Author's Note: Alright, I've somewhat updated the second chapter. Originally, I hadn't given a reason why Shampoo had started calling Ranma "Ranma-airen!" But now I have; and at an important time in the story too, I believe. During the final chapter of Shampoo's quest, Shampoo realized, after she thought she'd lost him forever, that she loved him. Although, it is evident from Ranma's reaction, that he does not reciprocate those feelings. Sorry if I didn't make that last notion obvious; it is certainly difficult to explain how one feels when they are pulled in two different directions like that, between like and disgust. I better just leave it as it is though, heh.

Anyways, we've also found out what Shampoo had been questing for, although not certainly why or even where the magic gem is. This definitely will have some significance in the story, but I guess it'd just be good practice for me to make things like that significant in subsequent chapters.

I have added another funny scene, but after that I've pretty much lost my will to revise much further beyond the subway scene. I still don't like the way I introduced Mousse's character into the story, but I can't see any other way of introducing him right now without either totally screwing up the story or losing the affect of pulling out Ranma's emotions the way I did. Someday I might find a better way to introduce him, and maybe even pull out Ranma's emotions in a more intricate and powerful way, but I'll leave it for now. I'd say that this is one of those times where it's better to tredge onward and then reflect back on it when I've found more tangible grounds to work on.

Anyways, that's all for now; I hope you enjoy my update. I'll work on a few chapters of my Lies of the Villains book and then get back to you all. See you later.


	3. Chapter 3: A Failed Secret

Prestory note: Alright, I realize that it has been a week or two since I updated. I've been kind of busy lately and unable to complete my chapter. In fact, it's still a little bit on the short side. However, I like this chapter, and I'm sure you all will too! I have updated the second chapter recently, about a week or two ago, so if you haven't checked the edited version out, and you want to, there ya go. There isn't much else to say, except that enjoy the read.

* * *

What was once a hot sunny day had suddenly turned into a chilly spring night for Ranma. The air felt cool to Ranma's skin and gave her the goosebumps. The temperature was slightly too cold in her opinion. It didn't help that she was practically stalk still.

'Alright, if I can just come in through the front door quietly, nobody will notice me and then I won't have to explain to them about my curse'. Ranma thought as she tip-toed through the front gates.

As it turned out, lady luck had given Ranma the short end of the stick yet again. She remembered hearing Cologne explain to her that she, Ranma Saotome, man among men, would experience random gender changes.

As preposterous as that would sound to the normal every day citizen, it was completely true for Ranma's case. However, she didn't think that the random changes would begin to occur so quickly. She couldn't really think of any reason it happened, either. She had just been bounding homeward as happily as could be.

"Hey, watch it will ya!" A car driver yelled as he drove by, nearly maiming Ranma. As ridiculous as it sounded, the next thing that happened was a ufo driving by Ranma and crashing behind her. A man in a clown get up hopped out of the ufo and frolicked around Ranma and said, "I'm the magical ninny!"

Ranma, not knowing what else to do, sprinted towards the direction of home and fled the scene of the crash. As if the clown knew her personally, he waved at Ranma's retreating form. She found a nice little alleyway where she could hide from the creepy clown.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Boo!" This caused Ranma to literally jump about fifteen feet as she heard the clown behind her. She ran all the way to the gates of her front home. Sometime in her run, she had changed forms without realizing, becoming a girl physically.

She continued to tip-toe into the house and finally closing the front door quietly behind her. As she cautiously stepped over to the stairs and up to her room, the wooden flooring under her feet creaked as she placed her weight on top of it. Each step seemed like a firecracker to Ranma as she struggled to keep herself from startling her parents and subsequently finding her in this condition.

Ranma heard the sounds of her mother's voice coming from the hallway. Ranma, having known that her mother now knew she was home and was thus coming to check up on her, bounded up the stairs and around the corner.

The running came to a halt all to quickly as Ranma bumped into Genma Saotome, her father. She grumbled as she pulled herself off of her father and stared up at him with surprised eyes. "Pops!" she cried, "I- I can explain!" '_Smooth move, Ranma._' Ranma thought bitterly as she stared, defeated.

"Explain what Ranma?" her mother called from behind her as she made her way across the final step of the stairs. She stood her ground, holding onto the rail of the stairs with a firm hand. She asked as she glanced to Ranma, "Why you're home so late?"

"I didn't mean for this to happen to me-" Ranma cut herself off, "Wait, what?"

"Yes, there must be a perfectly logical reason why you stayed out to the wee hours of the morning, now, isn't there?" her mother continued.

"Uhh..." Ranma glanced down at herself and realized that somehow she'd changed back into a guy without her parents discovering her secret.

"Whew." Ranma wiped his brow clean of sweat with the back of his hand. "Yeah, I met back up with Shampoo today and I got dragged into another one of her ridiculous quests. That's all."

At that remark, Nodoka paled, insulted at Ranma for talking about Shampoo in such a negative way. "Ranma, how dare you say that about Shampoo. She's just a normal, albeit retarded, girl struggling to cope with the poor treatment everyone gives her. Not to mention how hard it must be to go through life without knowing how to cook or do anything else to help her survive on her own.

Ranma stared at his mother, deadpan. "Uh...I hate ta say this but, Shampoo ain't retarded, mother. She's Chinese. She's actually very intelligent."

"That's beside the point, honey. You have to take other people's feelings into consideration." Nodoka said.

Upon hearing that statement, something inside Ranma made him growl. He grumbled, "What do you know about other people's feelings?"

He turned around and ran past Genma into his room, slamming the door shut behind him. He locked it tightly. '_At the very least, if I turned into a girl in my sleep and they decided to peep in they wouldn't find a girl sleeping in my bed._' Ranma sighed in relief on that notion.

As soon as he hit the bed, he was out like a light. On the other side of his door, Nodoka glanced to Genma, worried. She frowned as she said, "Sometimes I wish had had a girl instead of a boy, Genma honey... Ranma can get a bit aggressive at times..."

* * *

The next morning, as Ranma got up and stretched, he gave a wide yawn and opened his room door. He stretched once more, bringing his arms over and around the back of his head as he headed to the bathroom for his morning shower. He felt satisfied when he felt the stiff bones crack into place.

As he neared the bathroom he passed by his mother. He gave a short wave and said, "Mornin' mama."

His presence seemed to have startled her as she glanced over her shoulder at him with widened eyes. "I...what have I done?" she cried out as she gripped her head in between her two hands and leaned up against the wall behind her.

Ranma stopped in his tracks and jolted around. "What's wrong, mama?"

"I...I...I" Nodoka broke down and slid onto her butt, her back still pressed up against the wall. Tears formed in her eyes as she cried, "I've forever damaged my son into a cursed woman!"

She proceeded to cry, but Ranma was completely oblivious to that as she retreated into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. "No!" She screamed. 'How could this have happened? Why couldn't I have been more careful?'

Ranma ruffled her hair and quickly tried to think up a plan. '_...She only saw me for a moment. Maybe if I take my shower, quickly leave to go to Ryoga's to do some of that paper we were supposed to do, and come back later, she'll have forgotten all about it. Hopefully by then I'll be back to my normal self...and if worse comes to worse, then I'll just accuse her of seeing things. Yeah, that's the perfect plan!_'

At having found a game plan quick and simple enough for her to initiate, Ranma quickly undressed and hopped into the shower. The intense cold that sprayed onto her as she turned the faucet caused her to shiver, but she soon adjusted to the temperature as it began to warm up.

She sighed in relief as the water felt soothe to her skin. She absentmindedly fondled her own breasts and moaned. She let her worries slowly drift away, replacing them with blissful serenity. She cocked her head back and moved her hands to rub the back ends of her neck. She massaged a soreness she previously couldn't sense. She could literally feel the stress melt away as her head swayed from one way to the other.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door. "Ranma!" Yelled Genma. Judging from the decibels of his voice, he didn't sound too awfully happy with her that morning. "Get your butt out here right this instant! I demand that you tell me what you've done to your mother!"

Ranma gasped, and suddenly found herself trapped with no way out. If she went out and explained to her father, then her whole plan of keeping this a secret would be compromised. Even replying to him at this moment was out of the question. She had to think of something and fast!

She glanced around the bathroom, looking for anything to aid her in her escape. Ranma found a small window by the bathtub, but it was to narrow to fit her body through. That left her with only one other option, and that was the vent that hung overhead.

With all her might, Ranma launched herself up through the vent. It was just in time to avoid Genma's wrath as he ripped his way into the bathroom and glared everywhere with a gnarly growl emitting from his disgruntled frown. He yelled, "Where did you run off to, Ranma?"

Ranma had already crawled halfway through the house through the vent, and was unable to reply when she heard his voice echo through the vent's chamber. Upon finding a air vent, she pulled up on the vent and dropped onto the ground. She turned and darted towards the front door, without a care in the world.

It was about a twenty minute walk from Ranma's house to Ryoga's. 'Bump that', thought Ranma as she shut the door quickly behind her, 'I'm running!'

The run was only about ten minutes, and surprisingly enough, nobody stopped Ranma and questioned her for her exposed body. By the time she reached Ryoga's house, she was excited to find that she had just turned back into a male, if nothing else.

To say that Ryoga was surprised when he found a naked Ranma on his doorstep upon opening his door that morning was an understatement. It looked away from Ranma in disgust and mumbled, "I know the principal told us to behave and cooperate with one another, but don't you think you're pushing your buttons, Ranma?"

He turned, prepared to shut the door on Ranma's face when Ranma stopped the movement of the door with his hand. "Wait, Ryoga. I can explain!"

It was apparent that Ryoga was attempting to overcome an internal battle with himself over the debate of whether or not to allow Ranma inside. He took back his previous action, glaring at Ranma as he said, "Fine, I'll let you explain, but don't think I'll let this slide so easily. You owe me."

"For what?" Ranma snapped.

"You know darn well what I mean." Ryoga retorted. "Think of what everyone would say if they suddenly saw me inviting a naked you into my home. Everyone would think we were a gay couple or something!"

"Awe, you've my wittle heart, Ryoga!" Ranma faked pouting as he wiped a tear he managed to fabricate.

"Would you quit it? Imma kill you if you don't!" Ryoga shouted.

Ryoga suddenly saw someone he knew from school glance over their way. He gasped and pulled Ranma inside and shut the door. In the process, he had wrapped both his arms around Ranma close; he was suddenly out of breath as he narrowly dodged a bullet that time.

"I didn't know you cared about me that way, Ryoga-kun." Ranma said cutely as he fluttered his eyelashes up at Ryoga for affect. "holding wittle old me, all exposed for you to see and take in as you like."

Flustered, Ryoga shoved Ranma away and yelled, "Would you quit that!" He raised his fist and shook it violently.

Ranma leaned back, pointed at Ryoga's red face, and laughed as hard as he could, "You should see the look on your face right now!"

"Grr...Ranma!" Ryoga launched himself at Ranma, who grew surprised and leaped away at the last second. "I'm going to kill you!" He reached out to grab Ranma again as he picked himself off the floor without losing a beat.

All through the house they ran, dodging coffee tables and veering around terrified parents, most probably due to Ranma flashing the world his precious jewels, and nearly face-planting into walls as they hopped around each other.

Ryoga's father was pretty flustered himself by the time the two teenagers flew past him. "Quit running around! You're going to bring the house down at this rate!" He sipped some coffee from his mug as he shook his head. "Kids these days; always hyper, and not thinking of their future."

The two heeded not of Ryoga's father's warning as they each bounded up the stairs, one spinning around to watch the other chase after them as they reached the top of the stairs.

Ranma burst into Ryoga's room with Ryoga slowly behind. He jumped and was slightly startled when Ryoga flung himself into him, sending both sprawling onto Ryoga's bed. Ryoga was now situated above Ranma with a shaking fist looming over him. Besides the sudden unexpectedness on Ryoga's part, Ranma was otherwise fine, and he unwittingly giggled at Ryoga's attempt to beat him up.

Just as Ryoga was prepared to deliver his punishment, he stopped dead in his tracks, widening his eyes in an unbelieving kind of way. "What the..." He dropped his fist; his face contorted in confusion. What the hell was going on?

He ran his palm across Ranma's soft cheek, which earned him a funny and slightly worried look, and promptly slapped himself. No, he had not been dreaming after all.

"Ryoga...what...are you doing?" Ranma had a funny feeling he did not want to know what was going on. He glanced downwards, and cursed himself for having changed back into a girl at such an inopportune time. '_Just why did I have to change back now of all times?_'

Ranma quickly turned her attention to Ryoga and practically whispered, "Please don't tell anybody...Please! I can't bear letting anyone else know this. And I really will do you a favor if you just don't tell anybody!" She brought her hands together and begged for Ryoga's mercy.

"I can't believe it..you can turn into...a girl?" Ryoga cried. He grasped Ranma's breasts in his hands to double check to see if they were real or not.

A moan got caught up in Ranma's lungs as her breasts were fondled so lightly. She yelped and smacked Ryoga across the room. "Pervert!" Her face was flushed from embarrassment. A strangely appealing sensation had enveloped her body like a burning fire. It was unlike the time Keitaro maliciously molested her.

"That's you alright..." Ryoga groaned as he rubbed the newly formed bump on his head. "Man you pack a punch, even as a girl." He got up and walked towards his drawer. Ranma stared at him condescendingly through Ryoga's whole trek. He pulled out a pair of clothes for Ranma. "Here, I can't have a naked girl running around my house, as much as I like that sort of thing."

"Hey, you better watch what cha say, P-chan, or I'm gonna bar-be-cue you."

Ryoga smacked his head and replied, "Just take my clothes. Geez I think I liked you better as a guy." Ranma glanced away in, fed up with Ryoga's attitude. "Look, I'll won't tell anyone, I swear. I'd just like to know how it happened. And I think I will take you up on that offer."

"What, doing you a favor?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, but I haven't thought of one yet." Ryoga said. "For now, I'm just interested in hearing out your story."

Ranma told him her story. From how she found the mystical ball, to all the strange events that led up to now. When she was through, Ryoga felt as if he understood Ranma's circumstances a little bit better.

"That explains why you randomly turned into a girl right before my eyes. That's very interesting Ranma." Ryoga said as he walked over to his computer and brought it to life.

"More like the most annoying thing to happen to me since Shampoo." Ranma retorted. Glancing over to Ryoga's computer, Ranma groaned and plopped onto Ryoga's bed. She covered her eyes and tried to will everything away. "Do we have ta work on that stupid project...?"

Ryoga turned to Ranma. "Come on, I don't want to either, but it has to be done. We'll get through this and be back in school in no time at all."

Ranma wailed around in his bed as she cried, "That's easy for you to say. You have an overly cute girl in your bedroom. All I have is a smelly, ugly man to stare at."

A vein in Ryoga's head snapped as he cocked his brow, "You're testing my patience, Ranma..." His computer was now booted up, and with the flick of his wrist, the password was inputted. As it finished its start up processes, Ryoga had already begun to surf the net. "Now get over here and help me with this project."

A now clothed Ranma walked up to Ryoga and seated herself in his lap. At first Ryoga twitched in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"Helping you. You don't have any chairs for me and I don't want to stand." Ranma pouted. "Don't cha like havin' a cute girl in your lap?"

Ryoga flung her off of him and yelled, "That's it, you're so going to get it!" He jumped onto Ranma, who had coincidentally landed on Ryoga's bed, and held her down. She was putting up a fight this time, and Ryoga struggled to keep her planted on the spot.

Ryoga's hands brushed lightly across her side as he continued his efforts to hold her down. It wasn't much but it caused her to go into a raging fit of giggles as she jerked this way and that. "Ha ha ha ha I'm ha ha ticklish there. Ha ha stop, I hate ha ha being tickled."

"Oh really?" A sinister smirk grew on Ryoga's lips as he dove his hands and tickled Ranma relentlessly.

"Please, no! Ha ha ha!" Ranma was completely powerless to stop the tickling as Ryoga explored her body, non-sexually, and found a few more tickle spots that made her giggle even more.

As Ryoga engaged in his tickle attack he was unaware that a certain something was presenting itself in Ranma and Ryoga's interaction. Ranma noticed immediately, but she was unable to do anything about it as she was uncontrollably jerking around and laughing. She knew it was the cause of her jerking around that had caused it, but it's not as if she could have helped it.

"Your... ha ha.. friend ha ha.. has decided to come out and play ha ha." Ranma was breathing heavily by the time Ryoga let off of his tickle attack to check Ranma's accusation. She turned on her side, towards Ryoga, and wipe sweat that had started to form on her forehead.

"Don't sweat it Ryoga, I'm not angry about you getting a hard on." She giggled. She stretched, her arms reaching out in odd angles. It was strangely comfortable, here in Ryoga's bed, and the smell of the covers were intoxicating. Everything felt wonderfully satisfying to Ranma as she closed her eyes and began to let the sleepiness take over.

"I- you..erm. I didn't.." Ryoga was completely flustered. To blame Ranma for her actions was one thing. To get 'excited' whilst tickling her was another thing. He couldn't seem to bring himself to blame Ranma. "Shut up."

"Come here Ryoga. Lay down with me." Ranma said, unknowing of how suggestive it sounded to Ryoga. It caused his cheeks to break down in a heated blush.

"Ranma..." He warned, yet he complied with Ranma's commands, pulling himself to Ranma's side and situating himself comfortably.

She brought herself close to Ryoga, resting her head at the crook of his neck and absentmindedly draping an arm around his waist. She side and relaxed into a comfortable slumber.

Ryoga didn't know what overcame him as he draped on arm around her. He knew it was wrong, but he was suddenly far to sleepy to care. Together the two slept easier than they could ever imagine.

* * *

Author's note: I really liked this chapter. How everything came together, the way Ranma and Ryoga interacted with one another. I drew that scene out, which involved a lot of funnies along with a few cute things at the end. If I had to explain anything about this chapter, it'd have to be their actions at the end. I'm not sure, but sometimes after a tickling session, you can get sleepy and make yourself comfortable, and that's what I made Ranma-chan and Ryoga do. :P

As for Ranma's mother, Nodoka, and her odd reaction to finding out Ranma's secret, I can't say much of anything except that that will be concluded next chapter.

I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and hope to talk to you all again soon as I post chapter four. Like what you read? Send me a review; tell me what you think about the story, what it's lacking, or what you like most about the story now that it's actually started. Your input will be taken seriously and mulled upon, of course, during my creation and revision of my chapters. Of course, all reviews are welcome.


	4. Chapter 4: An Unexpected Turn

PreStory Note: I feel so ashamed for not updating this story! D: I'm going to start posting chapters whenever I can. I think one of the main reasons for me not updating this story in a while was because of college and writing my story. I mean, college eats up a lot of my time, what with studying and what not. And whenever I wasn't studying, I was writing Truth of the Heroes or its sequal Lies of the Villains. I didn't even get to publish those on time, so you can see that I'm so disappointed in myself, right? I guess what I'm trying to say is, life just loves to get in the way or storywriting. Anyways, here's to hoping I can publish more chapters. I'm okay with the first three chapters, so I'll just continue where I left off at and hope that everyone's not moved on yet, disappointed in me for not updating in a timely manner. I can make one promise: if my stories are actually good like this, then eventually I will finish them. I don't like good stories being discontinued.

Another Note: I will finish this story up first, and then work on Ryoga no Teishu, then I will publish a few more Ranma-chan/Ryoga stories I've been working on. I've been working on too many at once, so I need to limit the number of stories I'm working on at once. I also found another Ranma story that's unfinished and I'll review that one afterward and see if I should continue it or not. It's from almost two years ago, so I don't know if it's good enough to continue yet.

* * *

Ranma felt comfortable and oddly warm as he was slowly pulled away from his slumber. He wasn't used to this being the first sensation he experienced when he woke up. He smiled and rubbed his head closer into the warm object next to him. Wait a minute...when had he ever felt such warmth in bed? Causiously, he opened his eyes. From his position, the only thing he could discern was that his chest was being pressed up against someone's chest. He could feel a pair of strong arms around him. As he woke, his memories returned to him. He was in Ryoga's bed!

Then that meant the chest and the strong arms could only be connected to...gulp, Ryoga. Suddenly Ranma began jerking around, trying desperately to escape Ryoga's clutches. While he successfully pried himself free, he woke Ryoga in the process. Glaring at his rival, Ranma shouted, "What the hell did ya think ya were doing?" He then pushed Ryoga roughly out of the bed and onto the floor, where Ryoga's head banged against an end table, which in turn knocked the end table straight onto him.

As Ryoga removed the furniture from his being, he glared back at Ranma. "What did you do that for?"

"That much should be obvious, ya pervert! You were holdin' on ta me in yur sleep and takin' advantage of me. And for the record, Ryoga, I don't swing that way." Ranma yelled as he stood up on the bed, towering over his rival and shaking his fists at him.

Ryoga looked taken aback by Ranma's sudden mood swing. The last thing he knew, Ranma was quite comfortable with having him in the same bed, and now here he was, being accused of making advances to his rival? He didn't like the fact that his sexuality was being questioned. "Oh yeah? Well you coulda fooled me what with the way you were inviting me into bed like that. You know how hard it is for me to resist a girl's request."

"One, that is disturbing, even coming from you. Two, if you haven't already gotten the memo, I'm not a girl! I just got cursed to be turned into one every now and then, that's all." Ranma said. It was at this time that Ranma realized that he was in his male form again. He thanked kami-sama for this, for he couldn't stand to be in that form longer than was necessary-which, in his opinion, was close to zilch.

Ryoga growled and retorted, "As if turning into a girl wasn't disturbing in the slightest." By this point, he was getting annoyed with all of Ranma's accusations. He wasn't into him, dammit!

"Alright, now that argument doesn't even make sense. How can I help it if I turn into a girl? It's not as if I wanted this curse!"

Ryoga ran his hands through his hair frustratedly and stared up at the ceiling. "Ugh, why are we even arguing about this? I just thought we were getting together so we could work on that project of ours, and then you turn into a girl, and the next thing I know you're inviting me into my own bed!" He was so terribly confused that it was now beyond funny. Finding out about Ranma's new curse was beginning to tear Ryoga's sanity apart. He groaned, rubbing his temple as he tried to prevent himself from blowing up in Ranma's face again. It was a wonder how he managed to keep Ranma here all this time and not die from the shear torment that Ranma was putting him through.

Ryoga's explosion effectively silenced Ranma. All the while, Ranma was trying to pit the blame on Ryoga for something he himself was guilty of just so he didn't have to think about the strange feelings he had whilst being held in Ryoga's arms, he wasn't thinking of Ryoga's feelings. He gulped and said shyly, "Ryoga, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Stop," Ryoga barked. He gave Ranma a cold glare and pointed to the door. "Get out. We'll work on the project some other time. I'm not in the mood right now."

"But I-"

"Out!" Ryoga snapped.

Ranma bit his lip, but he said nothing as he turned and carried out Ryoga's order and left his home.

* * *

Ranma stared at the ground as she walked along the sidewalk. Shortly after leaving Ryoga's house, Ranma had again changed into a girl. She cursed her curse, as it had picked the oddest times for her to transform. "What is with Ryoga?" She asked herself. "This isn't like him at all. Usually when he and I get into an argument we just wrestle or something, but this time it was different." She pondered over their argument for a few more minutes until she bumped up against a totem pole. She came crashing to the ground with a resounding umph.

When she adjusted herself on the pavement, she said, "Maybe I took it too far by questioning his sexuality." She picked herself up off the ground and began walking once more.

She was on her way home when she ran into her mother. Her mother stopped her proceedings to look over to Ranma-chan. Her mother stared at her quizzically and said, "Ranma...?" She walked up to her, reaching out for her and wondering if the girl in front of her really was her son. "Is that you? What are you wearing?"

"Uh..," was all Ranma could say as Nodoka pulled her into a hug. She lain there, in her mother's arms as the older woman nearly broke down.

"Oh, Ranma, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen." Nodoka said as she pulled her child closer to her.

Deciding that trying to hide her affliction was pointless, she responded by saying, "Mom, what're ya talkin' about?" Her innocent question was enough to cause her mother to break down and cry in her arms, which was a little more than disturbing for the young Saotome. This was not at all like her mother to be sobbing, especially out in public like this.

Nodoka couldn't pull herself to tell her child the truth, that she had inadvertently caused her child to become like this with that stupid wish of hers. If only she had kept her infernal mouth shut, everything would have been different. Everything would have been alright, and their family could have gone on the way it always had in the past. But now it was too late, and there would be no bringing her son back. She guessed that she would eventually have to teach her new daughter the ways of being a woman, but she just wasn't ready for that now.

"I'm sorry..I just, I don't know if I can be there in your time of need...I...I'm going to need some time to adjust to everything, you see and...oh, you understand, don't you child?" Nodoka asked.

"Uh...Yeah, I think so..." Ranma said, a little unsure of where this was going. "Look, umm...I have to take care of a few things, but I'll be back home before dinner, alright?"

"Okay," Nodoka replied, "And don't feel nervous about your father, alright? He's a little less understanding with these kinds of things, but your mother will be here every step of the way. Mother just needs some time to help explain a few things that you should know."

"Ah, okay..." Ranma felt uneasy about the last part of her mother's statement. "Well, uhh, I'll be off!" Before her mother could say anything else, Ranma turned and ran off in a semi-random direction, leaving Nodoka alone to wonder about what she was going to say to Genma.

* * *

It was a while before Ranma stopped running. After thirty minues of non-stop running, she was breathing much heavier now. "Has...my mother gone crazy or something?" She asked herself. After a beat, she continued, "Well, at least she doesn't seem to be angry at me for being cursed. This is bound to make my crazy life at least somewhat livable now."

Ranma tried to figure out where she was going. She was originally goingo to head home, but now that her mother has seen her like this, that was out of the question. As for going back to Ryoga's abode, that was also out of the question. So what was she going to do for the rest of the day?

"I know! Maybe I can go to Cologne and see if she knows any permanent solutions to my newly acquired curse yet." Ranma said, and she was once again breaking out into a run, this time with a purpose place in mind.

She was so busy dreaming about finally becoming cured of her curse that she wasn't looking where she was going, and she suddenly bumped into a tall guy, causing them both to nearly fall over. As Ranma looked up, she said, "Oh, sorry about that. I wasn't looking where I was going."

The man was looking down, and he only smiled as he walked past her, patting her shoulder, and whispered, "It's nothing." The event took no longer than maybe ten or fifteen seconds, but Ranma sensed a strange aura coming from the man. However, she tried to ignore it and continue on her journey to Cologne's house.

As she strode down the street, she felt herself become drowsy. She abruptly took a misstep and tumbled to the ground. She rolled onto her back, breathing quite heavily as blackness began to shroud her line of sight. She was finally able to tell that she was losing consciousness, and rather quickly too. The last thing that she saw was the form of a purple-haired girl blocking the late afternoon light of a setting sun.

* * *

"Great-grandmother sure Shampoo airen okay?" A voice echoed into the room. All was black, and the only thing discernable were the voices in the room.

"Yes, he just had a nasty run in with someone, that's all." Another voice replied the first. This voice seemed louder. It seemed nearer than the first. Something cool to the touch made contact. "He seems to be burning up, but that's about it. Let's leave him be; he needs his rest."

"NO! Airen need Shampoo!" The first voice cried. The noise was so loud that it jerked Ranma awake. As a result, he screamed and jumped off the bed. He fell forward as he looked all around him. He noticed that he was still dizzy from earlier, and so when he fell, he couldn't avoid the nearby furniture. He grabbed a hold of the ends of the end table awkwardly, sighing with relief that he hadn't completely fallen and broken something.

He didn't pay attention to the lamp that fell off of the end table and rolled across the ground into a bookshelf. The bookshelf wobbled until it descended over Cologne and Ranma. After glancing over to the falling structure, Ranma gasped and ran for safety, colliding into Cologne and then Shampoo as he continued running out of the room. Both of the chinese women groaned as they were pulled along by him.

Unfortunately for Ranma, he could no longer see where he was going, and so when he approached the stairways, all three of them tumbled down the steps one after the other until they struck the rails, breaking them, and went over the side. They met the ground in a heap, with Ranma on top, and momentum carried him further in a roll. He knocked into a small table carrying another lamp. The table and the lamp fell to the side. As this lamp shattered, a fire erupted around the three, catching Ranma's clothes on fire.

Ranma screamed and rolled across the ground until a sprinkler system was turned on and put the fire out.

From where she lain, Cologne glared at Ranma and said flatly, "I'm glad I installed that sprinkler system."

Ranma chuckled nervously and replied, "Sorry about that."

"Shampoo okay, Shampoo just fine!" Shampoo groaned as she pulled herself up, Cologne teetering to the side as she did so. She grappled onto her dislocated shoulder and popped it back into place with a resounding pop. She bit her lip as she felt a quick, intense pain. Afterward, she crawled over to Ranma to make sure he was alright. "Airen okay, yes?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I think so...I just feel a bit drowsy, that's all."

"All things aside, What happened to you back there?" Cologne asked. "Shampoo has told me that you fainted in the middle of the street. That's not like you." got up herself and walked over to Ranma, who was trying to pick himself, but was unable to as the room was spinning around him. Cologne studied him close, trying to look for any telltale signs of a cuplrit's doing.

"I'm not sure," was Ranma's reply. He was trying to remember the last few things that occurred before he passed out. "I bumped into somebody shortly before I passed out, and I ran into my mother before that, but nothing else really happened today."

Cologne stepped nearer to Ranma and reached around for his sleeve and tucked it up on his shoulder. She revealed a nasty bruise. A nice blue spot covered the top half of his upper arm; there was a fine violet web that extended from the center of the bruise. After a few moments of staring at it, Cologne said, "You call this bumping into someone? It looks like this bruise is getting bigger."

Ranma stared at it and contorted his face in disgust. "How did I get that nasty bruise?" Ranma asked.

After closer inspection, Cologne gasped and retracted her hand in shock. She shook her head and tried to will away the vision of Ranma's bruise but was unable to. She frowned and said as a matter of fact, "That's no bruise. Not in the usual sense. Whoever did this to you Ranma, wanted you dead."

Ranma looked at her in alarm. "But why? Who would do this to me? How could they even kill me in the first place like this?"

Cologne sighed visibly and replied, "You see the violet streaks?" When Ranma nodded warily, she continued, "Those streaks are not a good sign. They will continue to grow until it consumes you. When it reaches your heart, you will die."

"Is there any way to stop it."

"Only one," Cologne declared. "The person who did this to you must die. You must be the one to kill him."

"Oh no, you know me. I'm no good at combat, and I'm most certainly not good at killing anyone. Even if the person who did this wanted me dead, how can I bring myself to kill him?" Ranma asked.

"If that really is your belief, then there's no point in us helping you." Cologne said morbidly. "If you cannot steel your resolve, then this will be the end of you."

Just then, Shampoo wailed. "Why so mean, Great-grand mother? Ranma Shampoo Airen! Trouble find Ranma, Ranma need help!" She would have continued voicing her cries, but Cologne effectively put a stop to that when she stopped on the ground as hard as she could. A loud reverberation resounded in the room before Cologne gave Shampoo the most serious look she had ever given her. Shampoo said nothing else, but instead shook violently as she raked her mind every possible scenario involving Ranma's survival.

In the meantime, Ranma's dizziness faded, and he slowly stood up. A look of seriousness filtered into his face. "Well, I have no choice then, do I? Do I need any sort of training first?"

"If someone was able to this, that means that they had an incredibly strong will and training. You won't stand a chance against him if you don't." Cologne responded candidly. "Fortunately, I know the perfect person who can train you to defeat him."

Ranma decided to change the topic. "Well, I guess I'll take care of it then. Can it wait until after we've found a cure to my curse? I'm tired of having to deal with becoming a girl at the most awkward times. I can't keep it a secret from anyone."

"Do you not realize the gravity of the situation? You don't have the time right now to be dealing with your curse," Cologne said. "You don't have much time. It won't take but two or three days for that streak to reach your heart. In that time, you must become trained enough to kill the person who did this, whom need I remind you must have had a lot of skill to pull this off in the first place. The person I had in mind to train you is known for his quick results. He should be out in the countryside right now, so we should leave tonight."

"Alright..." Ranma replied, "In that case, can I go back to my house and get a change of clothes? These aren't really my own and I probably should tell this to my parents. They will be wanting to know where I took off to and about this curse."

"Of course," Cologne said, "Shampoo, why don't you accompany Ranma? We never know when the enemy will return."

* * *

When Ranma and Shampoo reached Ranma's house, it was late at night. Ranma tried opening the front door, only to realize that it had been locked. He was sure his parents would be home at this time, and so he knocked on the door hoping that they would answer shortly. He was afraid that he would become a girl again, right before they opened the door, which would make it all the more difficult for him to explain everything to them.

Thankfully, nothing happened to him during the time it took for Nodoka to answer the door. She was surprised to find her son returned to his original form, but she seemed eternally thankful. "Thank you kami-sama, I thought for sure that I had ruined your life with that stupid wish of mine."

Ranma was about to come in and explain everything out to her, and hopefully to his father as well, if he was home yet, but he stopped himself short. "What?" he said flatly.

It seemed impossible, but the frown on Nodoka's face grew even more than her last run in with Ranma. "Oh, I feel so bad about this, but last night when you returned home, you were so violent that I let a slipped a wish between my lips that I had regretted the moment I saw you this morning. I must confess that I had wished that I had a daughter instead of a son, and when I saw you this morning, I freaked out. I blamed myself so heavily that I thought I would never forgive myself. But seeing you here now as a guy makes me feel infinitely relieved."

"Oh," Ranma said. His mother's explanation pieced together a few unknowns rather well. Her entire attitude today made sense now. "Well, that's good to know. I have make a few concessions myself. Is dad home?"

"Yes he is, why don't you come inside, Ranma honey?" She stepped aside to let him and Shampoo in. It was at this time that she noticed Shampoo. "Oh, hello Shampoo. I didn't notice you there. How is everything with you and your grandmother?" Ranma walked past his mother and into the family room.

"Good; that for later. Talk about Ranma now." Shampoo said simply. She followed Ranma into the house, and when she was by his side. "I help explain," she said to Ranma.

"Thanks," Ranma said. He turned back toward his mother. "Could you get dad to come down here. This is something that both of you should hear out."

Nodoka nodded and she called Genma down the stairs. When he came down, the four of them sat down on a pair of couches sitting in the family room across from each other. Genma and Nodoka were seated next to each other on the couch facing away from the front door, while Shampoo and Ranma were on the couch facing the front door.

"I know this is going to be hard to believe, believe me. If I had heard what I'm about to say from someone else, I would laugh at them and then call the insane asylum. But due to its nature, I am not able to keep this a secret from the two of you for very long." Ranma explained. "Mom's already seen it for her eyes, after all. Mom, dad...I can turn into a girl."

Nodoka and Genma both gave Ranma a perplexed expression. Ranma continued, "I have this curse that acts up at random times. When it activates, it switches my gender. I can litterally become a girl at any moment, and then a guy again at any moment after that. I have no control over the curse right now, so I can't stop it from happening."

Nodoka was the first one to speak, "Can we see it happen, just to make sure what you're saying is true?"

"Of course," Ranma said, "That's what I want. I'm just hoping that it won't take a long time. I don't usually stay in one form for very long so it shouldn't take too long."

They stayed there, seated on the couches for thirty minutes, in silence. The silence was awkward for everyone, and there was slight tension in the air among the Saotome family. Ranma rapped his the ends of his fingers across his knee caps as he waited for the curse to activate. He was beginning to grow concerned. The curse was taking longer than usual to activate; he had thought he was beginning to get an idea of the curse's schedule, but apparently he was wrong about that.

Finally, Nodoka couldn't take the silence anymore. "Why don't I whip us up a few refreshments while we wait? Genma, what would you like?"

"Raspberry Ice Tea," Genma murmured. He didn't take his eyes off of Ranma. Internally, he was trying to figure what Ranma was playing at. Unlike Nodoka, he didn't believe a single word Ranma had said, and he was wondering how much longer Ranma would play this game with them.

When Ranma and Shampoo asked for the same thing, Nodoka turned and began walking towards the kitchen. Shampoo got up from her seat and said in a half shout, "Wait! Shampoo do that. Shampoo seen curse. Shampoo know." She hurried past Nodoka.

Nodoka stopped in her journey and said uncertainly, "Okay..." She ambled back to Genma and sat back down next to him. She turned her attention back toward Ranma. A few more minutes passed them by before Shampoo returned with the refreshments on top of a tray and handed them out. A few more minutes still passed by them as they casually swallowed their drinks.

When Ranma's transformation finally occurred, Genma and Nodoka both were surprised. Genma more so due to the fact that he had never even seen Ranma's girl form. He said hastily, "How did that happen?"

"Long story short, an acquaintence of mine did this to me. I'm still trying to find a curse for it, but there's something else even more urgent that I need to tell you about," Ranma said as she began peeling back her one of her sleeves.

"What could be even more urgent than your curse?" Nodoka said worriedly. What trouble could her poor baby have gotten into? She hoped to kami-sama that everything would be alright.

"On my way to Shampoo's great-grand mother's place today, I bumped into somebody. I didn't think anything of it, but apparently the person I bumped into wants me dead. He's placed some sort of magic on that me that is slowly killing me." Ranma explained. He showed his parents the bruise. True to Cologne's word, the violet streaks have traveled further across her body in both directions. "These streak marks are dangerous. I was told that when the streaks reach my heart, which should be in about two or three days, I will die. My only option is to kill whomever placed this magic on me; hopefully then the magic will be dispelled."

Nodoka promptly fainted on the couch. Genma looked mortified as he glanced to Nodoka only briefly before saying, "I'm taking it that you have to do some traveling?" Ranma nodded in repliance. "How will we know if you don't succeed?"

"If I don't return after the three days are up, you'll have your answer." Ranma said calmly. She didn't want to face the possibility of her death, but there was no other choice now but to do so.

Genma didn't seem happy with Ranma's answer. He was extremely worried, and he appeared as if he wanted to join in on Ranma's journey and kill the person responsible for this himself. Shampoo intervened, however, and said, "Shampoo chinese warrior. Shampoo help Ranma. Everything fine."

"I hope so," Genma backed down. "I don't know what I would ever do without you, son. Err, daughter?" Evidently Genma was still unused to Ranma's curse.

"Don't worry, it's as Shampoo says." Ranma said. She sent him a smile to let him know everything was alright. "And you don't need to call me your daughter. I may be able to turn into a girl for the time being, but I am still very much your son. As soon as I get the chance, this curse is out of my life."

Ranma stood up and walked towards the door. Shampoo was right behind him. Ranma turned his head only for a moment and said, "I will be back as soon as I can be." Without another word, Ranma and Shampoo both exited the Saotome residence and were on their way to rendezvous with Cologne. They walked in the open night down the street in silence. Only the sound of their feet shuffling across the gravel could be heard.

In the distance, a figure shrouded in the shadows stared at Ranma's departure. His lips perked up into a small smile as he said, "Everything is slowly falling into place." The figure then ran off in a random direction and disappeared into the darkness.

* * *

PostStory Note: I don't know if I've mentioned that I would do this or not yet, but I am just changing the pronouns I use to describe Ranma when he/she undergoes the gender change. It makes things simpler that way, and I don't really have to describe the change every time. So yeah, I know I've posted this chapter up already, but I am going to start working on chapter five right away. I hope you all like the new chapter.


	5. Chapter 5: The Ritual

PreStory Note: Again I'm sorry, for such a long wait, but now I'm back in the writing business of fanfiction. Well, not a business, but you know what I mean. A figure of speech! I was pleased with the last chapter, even though it was far more serious than my last few chapters. I figured that it had to get serious for a little while in order to develop the plot a little. I can't leave my plot devices unspoken forever. xP

Anyways, keeping this note short, I hope you'll be pleased with this chapter. Read and review. 8)

* * *

After regrouping with Cologne, the three of them began their journey into the countryside. Being the only one to fully know the trainer's location, Cologne led the way up a steep incline. As they hiked up a mountain, Ranma said, "Just like old times, eh?" There was bitterness in his voice. In every sense, it really was just like old times. Shampoo and Cologne were always fighting for some reason or another.

"Yes, quite." Cologne agreed. They were far away from the city now, and it was now very late into the night. Ranma guestimated that it was around two or three in the morning.

Ranma couldn't remember a time where they went on a journey without him, save after the last battle in which he almost died in. He wondered why, for the most part, he had been involved in those journeys. Looking back, the only reason he ever had for being involved in the first place was he was always talked into going by Shampoo. For some reason or another, she always wanted him to come along with them.

Then Ranma thought of something else. neither one of these chinese women talked about any journeys before Ranma came into the picture. This perked Ranma's curiosity; why was this. You'd think someone as old as Cologne would talk about all kinds of stories, but Cologne was different somehow. "Uhh, old hag, I was wondering about-"

Ranma was cut off by Cologne as she struck him with a cane. "Haven't I told you not to call me that! It's disrespectful!" Cologne yelled. After that, she calmed down and asked, "Okay, so what was it that you were asking about, Ranma? Ranma?"

The silent boy teetered to the side, unconscious from Cologne's strike. Cologne gasped and cried out, "I hit him too hard!" In her frantic state, Cologne did not see Ranma's unconscious body begin to roll back down the mountain. She began to run in circles, thinking she had killed the poor kid once and for all.

As Ranma descended fancily down the mountain, his body came upon a large hole where he fell down and out of sight of the two chinese women. Shampoo, watching Ranma's misfortune, exclaimed, "Grand-mama, Ranma go down the hole."1

Almost immediately, Ranma came bouncing up and out of the hole, and his body continued its course down the hill. A wolf came out from the forest and began growling at the falling Ranma. It was about to pounce on him when he passed by and a cloud of dust concealed the wolf. When the dust dispersed, the wolf was standing on its hind legs and wearing a pink baby-doll dress. It had a look of confusion about its face.

Cologne turned to look at the falling Ranma and screamed, "Quick, Shampoo, we've got to stop him from falling down the mountain!" Cologne and Shampoo ran desperately after Ranma in an attempt to catch him. They chased him through thick foliage, around a grove of trees as Ranma's body somehow miraculously fell up and a hill away from the women, and even up a tree at one point.2 The highlight of their chase was when Ranma fell down passed a tree with the two women close behind, and as they passed the tree they both ran into branches even though cologne was much shorter than Shampoo.

After a while, Shampoo caught up to Ranma, ran around him and yelled out, "Shampoo got Ranma! Shampoo got Ranma!" She extended her arms out for him and hoped that something bizarre didn't happen again. The entire chase had seemed normal to her up until the point where Ranma's body fell up the tree.

As soon as Ranma's body ran into Shampoo, there was a shiny sparkle that flashed on the two. All of a sudden there was a massive explosion that errupted, pushing cologne and every animal in the forest in every direction. Random debris went flying into the air, and would fall hundreds of miles away from the center of the explosion. Cologne as scared as she grabbed onto a tree and held on for dear life. "What's going on?" she cried. As quickly as the explosion came, the explosion went, and when it was over, Ranma and Shampoo were lying on the ground in a heap of tangled arms and legs. Both of them were unconscious, but otherwise they were fine.

Cologne walked over to them, thankful that she now did not have to chase after Ranma's unconscious body, or worse yet, Shampoo's body as well, now that she too was unconscious. "Thank kami-sama that's over with." She sighed heavily. "Still, I can't believe the contact of their bodies generated a harmless, but spontaneous explosion that went on for dozens of miles. I have never seen anything like it before." She then sat down and waited for the two youngsters to wake up so that they could continue on with their journey.

* * *

When Ranma awoke, it was too the smell of delicious food being prepared on top of a campfire. Mm, it was a dinner in the morning; Ranma always loved those types of meals where a meal was being served at completely the wrong time. No, seriously, it still meant that he would be fed.

As Ranma slowly pulled himself out of his slumber, He felt a heavy weight on his chest. Subconsciously, he moved his hand to it and rubbed it, trying to get whatever it was off of his chest so that he could get up and get that food. As his hand slid across his chest, an electricity ran through him; his chest felt cool to the touch. Why had he felt his hand, though? He brought his other hand up to his chest and felt around. He moaned as cupped his chest in his hands. Something there felt really good, and he was about to continue exploring the area when he heard a subtle cough.

"As much as you have the right to touch yourself, Ranma, I don't think I want to see you feel yourself up." Ranma heard Cologne say.

That was enough to make Ranma open his eyes. He realized that he was not currently a he, and that she had been touching her own breasts. Ranma sat up, but did not remove her hands from her breasts. She let them move her breasts up and down as she stared at them in bewilderment. "Why do they feel so good if you touch them softly, but if you touch them harshly it hurts like hell?" Ranma asked as she placed her hands back at her sides. She had been thinking back to the times when that pervert groped her and when Ryoga touched her.

"Are you serious?" Cologne said flatly. She couldn't believe that Ranma didn't know the answer to that. Was the boy really that innocent and unknowing?

"Yes, well, I've never really asked a girl about that, and I've never been with a girl before, so I wouldn't know." Ranma said. She looked confused; was she supposed to have been with a girl before and known all about this sort of stuff?

"Womens' breasts are very sensitive. If held the wrong way, then it can be unpleasant for someone, but if held the right way...well, you get the idea." Cologne said without missing a beat. She didn't continue her thought as she proceeded to remove the cooked meal from the fire and move them into separate plates for the group to eat.

Ranma curled up into a ball with her chin ontop of her knees. "This is all so very new to me, these sensations that I have as a girl. On the outside, it just looks like I'm annoyed with my curse, but on the inside, it frightens me a little."

"What to you mean?" Cologne asked as she walked over to Ranma. She gave her one of the plates, set one aside for Shampoo for later, when she woke up, and finally sat down with her own. She took out two pairs of chopsticks and chucked one over to Ranma, who caught it with ease. With the other pair, Cologne began consuming the dinner she had prepared.

"Every time I turn into a girl, it feels like a little piece of my manhood fades away. These past few days I've been running around, trying to keep everyone from finding out about my curse. I thought maybe I could keep it a secret, and then my manhood would remain in tact while I tried to find a cure. But the transformations are so sporatic that I can't keep it a secret for very long. All the people close to me already found out about it. Thankfully, I don't have school for the next two weeks, so no one from school knows about it beside Ryoga. But what will happen once I go back? Everyone's view on my is bound to change. I won't be treated like the boy that I've always been," said Ranma.

Ranma found herself crying suddenly. She was sick and tired of the curse already, and it hasn't even been a full two days since she's had it. She felt tired and frustrated all at the same time. When would it end? Would it ever? Ranma didn't know the answer to that.

Cologne's expression appeared reflective for a short while before she came to a conclusion. "If it's about appearance that you're concerned with, you shouldn't care so much about what other's think of you." She took another bite from her food. It was cooked fish seasoned with butter and assorted spices. She munched it around from cheek bone to cheek bone as she swished the juicy meat around in her mouth. Off to the side was a small bowl of rice; she picked up the bowl and shoved some of it in her mouth alongside the fish. A couple of more bites, and she swallowed the food down with some herbal tea. Her stomach thanked her for the food by settling down.

"But what about how I feel?" Ranma asked as she waved her arms around frustratedly, "It's not easy to tell myself I'm a guy when I don't have the goods." Ranma said.

"Don't worry Ranma, I'll find some way to cure you. In the mean time we just have to focus all our efforts on training and finding the guy responsible for hurting you." Cologne said as she finished her meal. She just now realized that Ranma wasn't touching her food. This was not at all like the Ranma she knew. "Why aren't you eating? Every other time we've been on missions together you ate like a pig."

"Like I can eat at a time like this! Here I am turning into a girl all the time, and I have to go on a training mission so I can kill some guy who's out to kill me. I think it may be best to let myself die like this so I can be rid of the embarrassment." Ranma said. At this statement, Cologne cringed. Ranma was quiet when she asked, "By the way, I meant to ask you this earlier, how come you've never told me about any missions you've done in the past, before you guys forced me along for the ride?"

"Oh, the answer to that is simple..." Cologne said as a mischievious smile played onto her lips. "That's because Shampoo and I have never done any missions before you came along!" She raised her pointer finger high into the sky as if this was the most obvious answer.

In a cartoon-like fashion, Ranma face planted into the ground in shock at Cologne's answer. "Are you serious! Well, what about when you do go on missions? How come I have had to tag along?"

"You were there for comic relief!" Cologne said simply.

Tears welled up in Ranma's eye as she felt used in a way she never has before. "Why?" She sobbed as she melted onto the ground. She rolled around on the ground in a fit, pouting until a groan distracted her. She watched as Shampoo moved about in a sleepy manner.

Shampoo was just awakening to the sounds of Ranma's wails. She slowly opened her eyes and asked what was going on. The last thing she had remembered was trying to catch Ranma, and now here she was lying on the ground. "Airen okay?" She asked hesitantly. She looked at her surrounds, trying to figure out what was going on.

"In a manner of speaking, grandchild, he is." Cologne said. She went to clean her used dishes and prepare for the continuation of their journey. They had a long road ahead of them. Once she was ready, she yelled out to the children. "Come on, we haven't got all day. Finish your meals and let's hit the road already!"

Ranma grumbled and ate her food reluctantly. "You'll pay for that, baa-san." She mumbled as she gripped her chopsticks angrily and snapped them into smaller pieces.

* * *

It was a few hours into the afternoon when they finally made it to their destination. They would have reached it sooner, but Ranma drew the unlucky straw, as she continuously fell into traps along the way. This put them back a couple of hours, but at long last they reached the top of a mountain that held an ancient temple.

At the entrance of the temple stood a tall figure that stared down at them. As the three women got closer, they recognized the person as Mousse, who held his arms in front of his chest crossed while he waited for their arrival. When they were in earshot of him, he said, "You didn't think that I'd let you go on this journey without me, did you? I have to make sure you don't try anything with Shampoo." He was looking straight at Ranma as he said this.

"Why would I try anything with Shampoo, you freak?" Ranma growled. She glared at Mousse threateningly; after being constantly thrown in holes or ravaged by creepy tentacle things that couldn't be aired to the public, she was not in a good mood.

Shampoo turned to Ranma immediately and wailed, "Ranma no like Shampoo?"

"Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that, I mean, agh!" Ranma flung her hands into her hair, frustrated, and looked at everyone in a bug-eyed like fashion. Rivers flowed out of Shampoo's eyes as she grieved over her rejection.

"See, I knew this was what you were after all along. And now look at what you did!" Mousse said as he pointed at the crying Shampoo.

Not being able to take anymore of this, Ranma broke out into a run, intending to disappear into the forest, never to be seen again. Without moving an inch, Cologne grabbed onto Ranma's clothes and held her in place while saying, "Ranma, don't go running off anywhere without my permission. Mousse, you're not needed; go home."

Ranma and Mousse both shouted back at Cologne simultaneously. "Why do I need your permission?" "Absolutely not! I have every right to be here!"

Everyone broke out in an argument as each one of them wanted something different. Eventually someone of small stature walked up to all the noise and yelled out, "Quiet!" Immediately, everyone grew silent as they turned toward the newcomer. "Can't an old guy like me get any peace around here? What are all you doing here in front of me temple?"

Upon seeing the older man, Shampoo and Mousse jumped into a line and stood at attention. They then repeatedly bowed while the older man slowly walked passed them. Cologne gave him a slow, deep bow herself while Ranma just stood their staring at everyone. "What's everyone doing? And who is this old man?" She asked. Cologne glared at her and jumped over her to push Ranma's head down, forcing her to bow before the older man.

The old man stopped in front of Cologne. "What brings you and your protégé here?" he asked. Ranma had a mixed expression on her face; she was trying to figure out what was so special about the old man in front of her.

"We're actually here because of him." Cologne said, gesturing to Ranma. The old man raised an eyebrow her way, trying to get at what Cologne was playing at. Cologne then remembered that he didn't know about Ranma's newly developed curse and corrected herself. "I mean her. Happosai-san, I request you, no, beg you to train her. Her name is Ranma Saotome."

Happosai walked up to Ranma and gave her a look over once and then said, "Why should I train this bimbo?"

"Who are you calling a bimbo, ya old man?" Ranma cried as she raised a fist up to his face. At that exact moment she underwent her sex change and become a male again right in front of Happosai's eyes.

Happosai was surprised to find the pretty crossdresser right in front of him change into a guy. "How did this happen?" He cried, exasperated. He appeared almost frightful as he took a step back. Whatever Ranma had that made her change into a guy could very well spread to him and make him change into an elderly woman. As much as he loved watching women's breasts bounce up and down from afar, he didn't want to have them! "Don't tell me that this can happen to me!" He said, hopeful.

"Unfortunately, no." Cologne said. She believe that that would have been the perfect punishment for Happosai's sinful actions involving the female species. "This is a curse Ranma obtained a few days ago due to an ancient magic, but that's a story meant for another day. What we're here for now is this." Cologne said, reaching around for Ranma's sleeve. She showed him the bruise, and Happosai looked frightful once again. "As you've already become aware, Ranma only has a few short days to live unless he receives training from you."

Happosai looked grim. His joking nature was miles away now; his thin lips only formed a frown as he responded, "Do you think that even I, who can perform miracles and train idiots to become lean-mean-fighting-machines in mere _days_, have enough time to train Ranma enough to kill someone powerful enough to perform _that_ skill?" His words put shivers down Ranma's spine as stared down at the old man. Was the person that did this to him really that strong?

"I'm sorry but you're as good as dead, Saotome." Happosai said, turning away and walking back towards the temple. He gave a regrettable sigh as he walked along. He and Ranma would have made such a great team taking shots of nude women in bathhouses. And taking the panty goods from them would be a sinch for the gender shifter. He wiped a single tear from his eye before he exclaimed, "Oh well!" and forgot all about Ranma.

"Wait!" Cologne yelled, "It was the Mystic Orb that cursed Ranma." At this statement, Happosai stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wait, what does that have to do with anything? I dropped that and it-" Ranma was cut off by Cologne, who put a hand over his mouth. She shushed him and whispered into his ear that she would tell him about it later.

Happosai turned back toward Cologne and glared at her. "Oh, you know all my weak spots, Cologne-sama...Other than the panty-goodness, my one weakness are rare magical artifacts." He mulled over his options for a moment before saying, "Very well. I will train Ranma in exchange for the magical artifact. But before we begin I must ask one thing. Do you at least know where the culprit is?"

"I think that is a suitable exchange." Cologne said. "Hey, wait, we can't promise him something like that-" was what Ranma was trying to say, but her words were muffled by Cologne's hand. Cologne then shook her head. "We do not know where the culprit is located at this time."

Happosai groaned. "I guess it's none of my business, but I doubt you'd even have time to kill him even if you did. And that's if he even decided to stick around in one place for a whole week."

"Ranma no have week." Shampoo cried.

"I know, that's why I'm not going to train him, per se. I want that Mystic Orb bad, and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to get it, even if that means resorting to drastic measures." Happosai said defiantly. "Is the mystic gem still...?" He asked Cologne. When she nodded, he smirked and said, "Good. Ranma, come with me. We must be alone for this to work." Happosai didn't wait for Ranma to answer, as he was already on his way into the temple.

Ranma hesitated before following Happosai onto the temple grounds. He followed him inside the temple. The inside of the temple was well ornated. The walls were outlined in various pictures and architecture from the roman period. It displayed the many gods and goddesses that they believed in. There were even a few rows of columns made out of marble, another roman architecture. Ranma was impressed by the temple's fancy design, to say the least.

"We shall perform the ritual here." Happosai quickly remarked as he gathered his belongings and made a ring around Ranma and him.

"We're performing a what?" Ranma cried in disbelief. Was this old man here really serious? How would a ritual help him kill a man and save his life?

"A ritual. This is the only way to prepare you for your battle. But I warn you about this. There _will_ be backlashes after this is all over." Happosai said. He continued creating the ring by dropping salt around them. Once he was done, he placed lit four candles on each of the corners of the circle and one at the center. He seated himself and then gestured to Ranma to sit across from him. Once Ranma was seated, Happosai asked, "Is there anyone who is close to you?"

Ranma adjusted himself in his seat. Even though he was sitting cross-legged, a position he was usually comfortable in, he was uncomfortable. The prospect of sitting through a ritual such as this one bothered him. He had second thoughts about this. He wondered why he simply couldn't walk up to the culprit, take him by surprise, and kill him. The adults around here seemed to think that he had too much power to fall for something as simple as that, however. Ranma groaned, wanting to forget why he was doing this again and just go home to his parents and be cozy. "Well, there's my parents," He finally said.

"Besides your parents?" Happosai questioned. When Ranma had trouble picturing the person closest to him, he couldn't come up with any names. Question marks appeared around his face as he began to panic. Still, no names were coming to the forefront of his mind. Happosai's shoulders slumped, and his head drooped when he saw that they weren't going anywhere. He sighed and said, "Alright, I'll probe your mind for somebody." He moved his hands to Ranma's temple and peered into the younger man's mind.

A short moment passed before Happosai blinked and moved away. "Oh, dear. M'boy, it would appear that you're hardly close to anyone. There is one person that seems to be close enough, so I guess he'll have to do. You'll need to be a girl for this to work though."

A vein popped in Ranma's head as he growled and yelled, "Hey, old man, you going to tell me what this is all about? Why do you need to know about anyone that's close to me?"

"Because," Happosai said calmly, "in order for the ritual to be completely successful, a connection to someone close to you must be made." Ranma looked more confused than ever, so Happosai continued, "Ranma, I hate to be the one to inform you about this, but many years ago, when you were first born, there was a magical gem that was placed deep inside of you. The very essence of your life powers the gem, and in turn the gem empowers you."

"What...the...hell? Are you insane?" Ranma asked dumbfounded.

"None of us know why it was put there, or who put it there, but we can say this for sure: the gem you possess inside of you is wanted by many bad people. When Cologne and Shampoo found you, they were relieved that something bad hadn't already come to you. They swore that they would never let anything bad happen to you."

Happosai's explanation made him furious. "Well, they sure failed at that, because every way I look at, whenever something bad happens to me, they're somehow involved in it!" Ranma yelled. He hadn't meant to make it sound so cruel, but it was the truth. At least, that is how he perceived it. "And if they didn't want anything bad happen to me, hows come they're always bringing me along dangerous missions?"

"You'll have to ask Cologne about that one, I'm not involved in this. This is just something that Cologne has confided in me when we last spoke." Happosai said. When Ranma gave him the stare, Happosai shakily added, "I think it has something to do with Cologne's village back in china. Anyways, right now the gem's powers inside you remain dormant, but if I unlock them, then you may just have a chance to defeat this guy."

"And how, pray tell, do you accomplish that?" Ranma asked bitterly.

Happosai took a red gem from his pocket and held it up for Ranma to see. "That's where your connection with someone close and this ritual come into play. We need to do this ritual to open up a connection with you and someone close to you, and we can use this here gem, with a few the added magical properties of your gem, to finish the connection. Finishing the connection will forcibly unlock your gem's powers so that you can use them."

"But why can't we force it out without the connection? And why do I have to be a girl for this to work?" Ranma asked skeptically. These explanations were beginning to make less and less sense. How could any of these even be possible in the first place?

"Well let's think of it like this. If you tried to use the gem's powers right now, you would ultimately die. The gem would literally drain you of all of your life energy, the same way an electrical device would drain a battery's charge. By forging a connection, you've generated an outlet for your used energy. The energy would cycle from you to the person you're connected to and back, and you would be drained of your life energy.

"However, once connected to this person, you will never be able to break the connection, even in death. You will also experience changes between the two of you, of this I'm sure. I'm not exactly sure how, but it's a result of the ritual. And the reason you have to be a girl is because it would make it easier to make the connection between you and your partner." Happosai finished explaining. He looked quite pleased with his explanation.

"And who exactly am I being connected to?" Ranma asked.

"It would appear that Ryoga is the closest non-relative to you. Now, are you ready to begin the ritual?" Happosai asked as he began burning some incense.

"Hold you're horses. Ryoga? Is that the best you can come up with? I'd rather be connected to a monkey than that obnoxious pig!" Ranma yelled, abhorred. He shivered in disgust. He was the last person that he wanted to be connected to. He wasn't even sure if Ryoga would agree to this in the _first_ place.

"As much as I hate to say it, there's no one in your life that's closer to you than he is. Now, change yourself into a girl so we can start this ritual already. I haven't got all day."

"For the last time, I don't want to be connected to Ryoga! And for your information, I can't control when I change genders. Didn't you get the memo, it's a curse!" Ranma barked.

"Oh right, silly me." Happosai sweat-dropped. He scratched the back of his head and mentally cursed himself for being so forgetful. He pulled out a cane that had a kanji symbol enscribed on the end, and he stabbed that end into Ranma. Suddenly, Ranma changed into a girl. The change startled her momentarily. She was speechless as she tried to figure out how Happosai managed to control her gender change.

"Now until I finish the connection, you'll be trapped in an in between world, where the fabric of time doesn't move forward. Be sure not to get lose whilst in there, or you won't be able to come out." Happosai said just before he slapped the palms of his hands together and began chanting.

The fires from the candles began glowing brightly and they climbed into the air around Ranma and Happosai. The five fires converged at the center, where they formed a bright glowing swirl of energy. "Uhh..." Was Ranma's intelligent remark as this took place. The ball of energy began to slowly descend until it was in between Ranma and Happosai. During its descent, it had began to change into shades of different colors, though it was mainly violet.

By the time it had stopped, the energy was swirling around so violently that it threatened to break off into the room and hit something. Happosai stopped his chanting to look at the swirling mass. He said gently to Ranma, "Good luck." He then blew on the energy, sending it flying into Ranma, who burst into a puff of smoke, leaving nothing behind.

Happosai was suddenly alone in the room. He glanced down to gem in his hand. It now held magical powers very similar Ranma's gem. It was glowing bright red, ready to be implanted in someone. That someone was going to be Ryoga, Happosai told himself.

Cologne, Shampoo, and Mousse entered into the temple. "Is it finished?" Cologne asked patiently.

"Almost, Cologne-sama. I just have to finish the connection, and then they'll be ready. But I have to warn you, she isn't going to be happy the next time you see her." Happosai said.

"Why?" Cologne asked. Happosai shook his head and stepped away from the circle. He went outside to go cool off his mind before embarking on his journey back into the city. It had been many years since he set foot in Nerima. That place held many memories for him, none of them good.

* * *

1: Yes, I just quoted Baby Plucky from tiny toons. xD

2: I hope this is funnier than it is weird. Somehow picturing Ranma's body falling up a hill and then up a tree is hilarious to me. x3

PostStory Note: Well, I don't know if you all have enjoyed this chapter or not. I can only hope you have. I also hope that my explanation during the gem part of the chapter wasn't too confusing. I had a tough time making a reasonable explanation for everything that was happening. I have noticed one thing in this story. Nothing good ever seems to happen to Ranma in here. He seems to get screwed over like every five minutes. xD I kinda feel sorry for him, but at the same time it sorta makes me laugh.

As for this connection business, I think on some level I want them to be able to sort of feel what the other person is feeling, but at the same time I don't want to make that major to the story. There was a story done years ago where Ranma and Ryoga were connected and they could feel everything the other person felt because of a connection, so that's one of the reasons I want to stay away from that. If I put it in here for anything, it'd only to drive Ranma (and Ryoga too) crazy.

As for the length of this story, I think it will be a pretty decent size. It'll probably be around 50-60k words maybe, hopefully. I know I'll want to add in a few filler chapters that'll contain some funny and embarrassing things between Ranma and everyone else. I also want to include other characters that have pretty much stayed in the background for a while (such as Akane and Genma). I think I'll add in Kuno and Kodachi just to spice things up. ^.^

As for the genre of the story, I think I'm pulling away from the humor a little bit. Not that any of the story had any real jokes or whatever in it, and I think I have a bad sense of humor, but mostly everything that's happened in the story to Ranma was silly. It seems to keep me into the story at least.

As for other stories, I know I was promising a really long one about a traveler, and I will post that up at some point in the future, but for some reason I can't come up with, I've started on yet another Ranma fanfiction that hasn't been posted yet. This other one I was doing in Ranma's point of view in the first person. So far, I'm not really enthralled by the storyline I have going for it, but you guys might like it, so I'll work on it and post that one too.

For some reason, I have this personal goal to make a story on this sight that gets up to 100 reviews. I don't know why I continue to want to do this, or how I'm going to do it, as I don't seem to have the knack for writing excellent quality fanfiction. I mean, I write okay fanfiction, but my fanfictions all seem to lack something. Maybe I am making my characters 2D-ish, or something, I don't know. At any rate, I don't want to make it sound like I'm begging for reviews, I just want to know if that's one of the things that's happening to my stories.


End file.
